By Gavin Guffey, Newswire Intern

This past Friday, rapper Rakim Athelston Mayers, known by his stage name A$AP Rocky, released his fourth studio album, “Don’t Be Dumb.”

In his first album release since 2018’s “Testing,” A$AP Rocky quickly acknowledges that fans have been waiting for eight years. He says in the first line of the intro “ORDER OF PROTECTION,” “It’s been a lil’ while since I been in the league / A couple lil’ trials, couple of leaks.” While he has been releasing singles frequently, A$AP Rocky has certainly been out of the album-making “league.”

A$AP Rocky references two main occurrences that caused him to push back the album from its original summer 2024 debut. The first of these are two trials that he faced, one in 2019, where he was charged with and found guilty of assault and in 2025, where he was accused of shooting at a former friend of his, before he was found not guilty. The second of these occurrences is some of the album’s original songs being leaked ahead of its release, causing A$AP Rocky to rewrite certain tracks.Additionally, a popular talking point of his absence has been his relationship with Rihanna, with whom he has three kids.

The album is interesting because A$AP Rocky has a plethora of producers. This means that almost every song has a unique sound. Some of the tracks are produced by A$AP Rocky himself, while others contain more than a dozen producers. Features include big names such as Doechii, Westside Gunn and Tyler, the Creator.

The mix of productions can be interpreted in different ways, but I think it slightly hurts the album, as it makes it harder for the listener to understand the rhythm. The production varies greatly by song, which is never a problem, but the style also changes with each song. It unfortunately creates an album that feels chaotic and thrown together instead of carefully articulated in any sort of order.

I enjoyed the intro of “ORDER OF PROTECTION” and I think it is a good start to the album. When it comes to the middle of the album, I am not a huge fan of how much the songs change from track to track, but there are some highlights.

One of the more popular songs is “HELICOPTER,” which was released prior to the bulk of the album on Jan. 12, along with its accompanying music video. I enjoy the production of this song. I do not agree with the people saying it is the best song on the album, but the flow and beat fit well.

My personal favorite song is the fifth track, “STAY HERE 4 LIFE.” This seems to be an opinion held by many other fans. Although a longer track, coming in at almost six minutes, the song has a smooth and catchy refrain mixed with a storytelling aspect in the verses. I love everything about this song, including the flow from A$AP Rocky and the vocals from Brent Faiyaz. The switching of the production around four minutes in also provides for a nice contrast to end the track.

Three relatively similar tracks that I enjoyed are “PLAYA,” “WHISKEY (RELEASE ME)” and “DON’T BE DUMB / TRIP BABY.” My favorite parts of the album are where A$AP Rocky tries to slow it down with more drawn out, slower vibes.

Overall, I enjoyed “Don’t Be Dumb.” It is great to finally get an album from A$AP Rocky after the better part of a decade and it is clear that he took his time experimenting with different producers and styles. I was originally caught off-guard by the mix of styles in the album between tracks, but some of the more different songs will grow on me with more listens.